Best First Film

2004 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film WinnerMaria Full of GraceJoshua MarstonA pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately needed money for her family.Amazon

2005 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film WinnerCapoteBennett MillerIn 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.Amazon2005 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film NomineesJunebugPhil MorrisonAmazonMe and You and Everyone We KnowMiranda JulyAmazon

2006 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film WinnerHalf NelsonRyan FleckAn inner-city junior high school teacher with a drug habit forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret.Amazon2006 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film NomineesA Guide to Recognizing Your SaintsDito MontielAmazonLittle Miss SunshineJonathan DaytonAmazon

2019 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film WinnerAtlanticsIn a popular suburb of Dakar, workers on the construction site of a futuristic tower, without pay for months, decide to leave the country by the ocean for a better future. Among them is Souleiman, the lover of Ada, promised to another.Amazon

2008 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film WinnerFrozen RiverCourtney HuntA mom looks for another source of income, when her husband leaves with the money meant for the new mobile home. A nearby Indian territory stretches across the border to Canada with a drivable frozen river between. Smugling?Amazon2008 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film NomineesBallastLance HammerAmazonRepriseJoachim TrierAmazon

2009 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film WinnerHungerSteve McQueenIrish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.Amazon

2011 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film WinnerMargin CallJ.C. ChandorFollows the key people at an investment bank, over a 24-hour period, during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.Amazon2011 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film NomineesMartha Marcy May MarleneSean DurkinAmazonMy Week with MarilynSimon CurtisAmazon

2012 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film WinnerHow to Survive a PlagueDavid FranceThe story of two coalitions -- ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) -- whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition.Amazon2012 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film NomineesBeasts of the Southern WildBenh ZeitlinAmazon

2013 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best First Film WinnerFruitvale StationRyan CooglerThe story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.Amazon